The present disclosure relates generally to apparatuses for managing pressure on users' anatomy and/or dressing wounds and injuries, particularly in the areas around users' feet and lower legs, are described.
Medical complications arise all too often when patients must remain in relatively immobilized for long periods of time. Certain medical procedures and recovery regimens require that a patient to lie down in a relatively immobile condition for extended periods of time. Further, a patient's health and/or lack of mobility ma require that the patient lie down and remain relatively immobile for extended periods.
In some instances, the patient must rermin relatively immobilized for long periods of time with his hells down and otherwise in contact with a supporting mattress or other supporting structure. A common, dangerous, and unpleasant consequence of remaining in a position where a patient lies on his back with his heels in a relatively high-contact pressure with the underlying support structure, such as a surgical table, is decubitus injury; lying down injury. Decubitus injury, for example, decubitus ulcers, can also result when patients' heels are in extended contact with a relatively soft surface, such as a mattress when patients are bedridden.
Existing means to combat decubitus injuries include bandaging systems and manually moving patients on a regular basis. Regularly moving patients seeks to change the position of the body in contact with another surface to vary the area of the body subject to relatively high pressure. Regularly moving patients is labor intensive and is prone to human failings, such as caregivers not moving patients frequently enough and/or not being physically able to move a given patient.
Known bandaging systems are not entirely satisfactory for the range of applications in which they are employed. Many conventional bandaging systems are inadequate at properly managing the amount and distribution of anatomical contact pressure applied to bandaged areas. Not properly managing contact pressure can lead to a whole host complications, including decubitus sores, swelling, infection, improper healing of injuries and wounds, and other ailments.
Thus, there exists a need for apparatuses dressing wounds and injuries that improve upon and advance the design of known Bandaging means, particularly those that are particularly adapted for use around users' feet and lower legs. Examples of new and useful apparatuses that address these shortcomings in the field are discussed below. Further, many examples provided below include additional or alternative features augment the pressure management characteristics of described examples and/or provide supplemental functionality.
Disclosure addressing one or more of the identified existing needs is provided in the detailed description below. Examples of references relevant to apparatuses for dressing injuries include U.S. Patent References: U.S. Patent Application Publication 2010/0191163, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/603401, U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/268,934, and U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/206,127. The complete disclosures of the above patents and patent applications are herein incorporated by reference for all purposes.